Believe it when it happens.
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2013/jun/23/western-electric-plugs-into-rossville/
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2013/jun/23/western-electric-plugs-into-rossville/
Tubes to be Again Made in the US
- Thread starter MylesBAstor
- Start date
Steve Williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Got me. But remember years ago, HP reviewed an amp from Charles and liked it. Wonder if their related?
This is the second time that WE as a tube company was resurrected from the dead. The first attempt was to bring 300B tubes back into production and we were promised KT-88 tubes as well. Even though WE had the original drawings and parts lists, and equipment to make the 300B tubes, they went through hell bringing these tubes back into limited production. That's not surprising since even modern day tube companies will experience start-up problems if they haven't built a particular tube type in a while and restart the line. WE hadn't built a 300B for many, many years when they put it back into production. Even when you have the recipe, there is always some "secret sauce" that people who used to make the recipe knew to use even though it wasn't written down. If memory serves me correctly, the biggest problem they had was doping the cathode correctly.
This new article didn't say whether he obtained all of the drawings, parts lists, production procedures, and equipment or if all he has is rights to the name. I suspect he just has rights to the name.
This new article didn't say whether he obtained all of the drawings, parts lists, production procedures, and equipment or if all he has is rights to the name. I suspect he just has rights to the name.
Hopefully he doesn't wreck the name he got. We've all seen that happen to other tube names before. 
Hopefully he doesn't wreck the name he got. We've all seen that happen to other tube names before.
Jack-If this guy didn't buy the machinery, parts lists, chemical recipes, drawings, and production procedures, this could be worse than Sovtek building "Mullard" tubes or "Gold Lion" tubes. It's much easier to make good copies of the original boxes than it is to make good copies of the tubes. He might build 'a' 300B tube, but it won't be the same as a WE 300B tube.
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